As a filmmaker, I always want to challenge myself both creatively and technically. I pursue projects that can stimulate me on several levels. If I am going to commit a year of my life to a feature film…it is crucial that I walk away with new skills, a successful storytelling experience and a lot of fun in the trenches with my team.

Movie poster for 6 Below starring Josh Hartnett

THE BEGINNING

When I was asked by director Scotty Waugh to edit 6 BELOW…all my personal and professional requirements were met. All the checkboxes were ticked. The true story of Eric LeMarque, a professional hockey player, that went snowboarding and got trapped in a snowstorm on an isolated mountain for 8 days was riveting.

As fate would have it, Scotty didn’t know I knew Eric LeMarque when he asked me to edit the film. He didn’t know that Eric and I both played professional hockey together 15 years earlier. That only added to the immense sense of responsibility I had to deal with in telling his true story in the best manner possible. The conflict of editor versus friend.
No pressure!

Then Scotty dropped a couple huge technical bombs on me. 6 BELOW would be the first entire feature film in the history of Hollywood to be presented in the Barco Escape format. The 7:1 aspect ratio is the widest of any format in 100 years. Three 2K DCPs are projected in sync onto 3 full-sized movie screens to create an incredibly immersive viewing experience.

On top of that, we also had to deliver a 2.76:1 aspect ratio (same as the 70mm version of “The Hateful Eight”) theatrical version for traditional one-screen theaters. That meant two complete separate feature film edits to accommodate for the different framings of each format.

After all that…there was one more surprise that Scotty had waiting for me…

6 BELOW

I will be posting a breakdown of how I created the first ever 6K Native workflow for a Hollywood feature film here on my blog October 14th.

Until then, here’s a some background on the true story of 6 BELOW…

LOGLINE

When a snowstorm strands former professional hockey player Eric LeMarque atop the Sierra Nevada Mountains for eight days, he is forced to face his past and come to terms with his personal demons in order to survive.

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Film Editing begins with organization. A feature film can have anywhere from 77 minutes of footage as in PRIMER to over 500 hours of footage shot on DEADPOOL. On both films…keeping track of the footage and making it all instantly accessible to the editor is paramount to a successful edit. On my current feature film 6 BELOW I am using markers in a new way.

Josh Hartnett in the survival thriller 6 BELOW

By using MARKERS on timelines and sequences to notate takes, scenes and memorable moments an editor can isolate specific shots or sections that all the filmmakers can use to help wrangle all the footage and help tell a clearer story with all the footage.

All editing software allows for dropping markers on timelines but I utilize one little know function inside Adobe Premiere Pro to help me mark larger groups of shots or sections of similar content. A marker is usually placed on one frame but I like to extend that marker to cover minutes or whole swaths of footage. I then assign a name to the marker and this allows me to visually spot my assets very easily inside my timeline.

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I’ve just finished editorial on the feature film 6 BELOW starring Josh Hartnett and directed by Scotty Waugh (Need for Speed, Act of Valor). This is my 10th feature film as an editor and a very welcome challenge both creatively and technically. It’s also the first feature film to be edited natively in 6K. I’m cutting the original RED 6K Dragon files (R3D) with no transcoding or proxies in Adobe Premiere Pro. We are framing for a 2.76:1 aspect ratio like The Hateful Eight and using Panavision Primo 70 lenses.